Transition

Concentration of CO2 in the Atmosphere

May 23 News

World:

The chief executives of eight leading energy utilities criticized the European Union’s political leaders for the bloc’s fragmented energy policy, calling for a more favorable market environment to encourage investment in energy infrastructure. [Wall Street Journal]

Investing in new renewable power generation, rather than a “dash for gas”, will be the lower-cost option for keeping the lights on while cutting greenhouse gas emissions, according to the UK government’s climate change watchdog. [The Guardian]

A Canadian nuclear power company wants to dump waste at an Ontario site about a mile off the shore of Lake Huron, approximately 120 miles upstream from the main drinking water intakes for southeastern Michigan. [Southgate News

US:

The Obama administration should be pushing hard for the development of renewable energy technologies even as the ongoing US gas boom makes them less economically competitive, the new head of the Department of Energy said Wednesday. [Platts]

The US Department of Agriculture announced their Rural Energy for America Program grant application recently. The grants can pay for up to 25% of the eligible costs of a renewable energy project. [CleanTechnica]

Massachusetts now ranks 6th nationwide for overall solar production. In fact, residential solar installations more than quadrupled between 2010 and 2012. [Business Wire]

The Massachusetts Renewable Thermal Coalition, focused on renewable heating technologies has formed to press for support from the Massachusetts Legislature in 2013. [Biomass Magazine]

Extended tax credits could push up wind power production over the next three years and beyond, according to an Energy Information Administration report released today. Generation could increase by as much as 34% by 2016. [Motley Fool]

Georgia Power announced today that it has added 53.5 MW of new biomass capacity to the company’s generation portfolio, utilizing forestry byproducts, materials that would otherwise end up in landfills or be left to decompose naturally, for fuel. [Your Renewable News]